Talk:disembody

RFV discussion: January–July 2016
Rfv-sense "To detach any part of the human body painlessly, but have it still fully functional as if it were still attached." Recently added by an anon, and I wasn't sure, but didn't want to revert on sight. —Μετάknowledge discuss/deeds 02:23, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
 * If I search for "disembodied ", I get quite a few hits, such as the following:
 * Of course, I think the "painlessly" bit would be hard to verify, and I am dubious about it. Is that what you are looking for? Kiwima (talk) 04:27, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Of course, I think the "painlessly" bit would be hard to verify, and I am dubious about it. Is that what you are looking for? Kiwima (talk) 04:27, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Of course, I think the "painlessly" bit would be hard to verify, and I am dubious about it. Is that what you are looking for? Kiwima (talk) 04:27, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Of course, I think the "painlessly" bit would be hard to verify, and I am dubious about it. Is that what you are looking for? Kiwima (talk) 04:27, 18 January 2016 (UTC)


 * This is what "disembodied" most often means, I think. It's really sense #2, probably ("separate from an object"), but that seems poorly worded for when the object is a (human) body. Equinox ◑ 04:40, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
 * For me, this is an adjective disembodied. I'd like to see real verbal usage before having it as a verb. —Aɴɢʀ (talk) 04:58, 18 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Fair point. "disembody * arm" and "disembody * leg" disappointingly turn up nothing at all in G.Books! Equinox ◑ 05:08, 18 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Agreed, this sense is probably only used as the adjective "disembodied". Otherwise we'd have disembodying for decapitation (I suppose it all depends on your point of view, eh?). P Aculeius (talk) 13:19, 18 January 2016 (UTC)


 * turns up disembody his spirit, troops, intellect, power, corps [of troops], treacherous enemy, essence, victims, argument, narrative, body, living music, peasants, conquests, heroine, militia, theory, "capital" and "labor", mistress, wife, daughter, parents, analysis, view, and political will, some of which suggest we're missing a sense. Also: Aaron Smith's 2005 Blue on Blue Ground "Products that require pouring and/or stirring: Fabric softeners, especially in deep blue containers, diet sodas (he loves to disembody his perfect hand and let it belong, if only for a little while, to a perfect body that's not his body, that's somebody else's), coffee creamers, and lotion." That doesn't seem to be quite this sense. These seem to be the right sense, though:


 * 1982, William Buchan, John Buchan: a memoir, page 109:
 * "[he] wore the high, stiff collars which were the fashion of the day: in pictures these tend to disembody his head, making him look constrained, uncomfortable, yet they remained his choice."
 * 2015, Marlys Millhiser, Nightmare Country ISBN 1504010205:
 * Jerusha turned, a flush on her cheeks that wasn't makeup, a swath of steam from the vaporizer swirling around her chest, disembodying her head.
 * Seems rare, probably a back-formation (also: does it only apply to heads?). - -sche (discuss) 04:28, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Okay, I'm convinced. Definition still needs some revision, though.  Something like, "to remove, separate, or give the impression of separating part of the body (especially the head)."  P Aculeius (talk) 15:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Modified like . We still seem to be missing a sense to cover the above-mentioned attested phrases like "disembody/disembodies his wife/peasants/militia". - -sche (discuss) 05:51, 30 July 2016 (UTC)